The first ever official chess tournament will be held in Chukotka

On Saturday, April 8, the regional stage of the All-Russian chess competition “White Ladya” (6+) starts in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. 76 athletes from 14 district schools are declared in them. The organizer of the tournament was the regional chess federation, IA “Chukotka” reports.

As told in the organizing committee of the competition, in Chukotka the stage of the “White Lady” will begin at 11 o’clock local time. Athletes from 14 educational institutions and 13 settlements of Chukotka participate in the tournament. The age of young contenders for the chess crown does not exceed 14 years. There are four players in a team, and there must be a girl among them. It is also possible to have two substitute athletes.

“Regional tournaments of the Belaya Ladya are now held throughout Russia. True, everywhere in the format of personal meetings of young chess players. But, since we do not have the opportunity to gather chess players “live”, it was decided to hold qualifying games online on the Lichess chess portal. It has a built-in “anti-cheat” system, it checks by the quality of moves whether the player uses hints. In addition, video surveillance is organized, the jury will watch the children play themselves. The games will be held for three weeks, on Saturdays,” said Alexei Fedichkin.

According to the rules of the tournament, each of the participants will play two games on each of the tournament Saturdays. All games are strictly limited in time – athletes are given half an hour for all moves. You can follow the battles of the district’s young chess players online – the tournament table and the results of the games will be published on the official website of the competition.

The regional stage will end on April 29 with a meeting of the two best teams of the district. The winners will get the right to participate in the all-Russian final of the “Belaya Ladya”, which will be held in early June in Sochi.

This tournament is held in Chukotka for the first time. This became possible after the appearance of the Chukotka Chess Federation, which was registered on March 13. Its founders were Roman Korkishko, the head of the Egvekinot city district, Alexander Endaltsev, an entrepreneur and philanthropist, and Alexei Fedichkin, an amateur chess player, who headed the new association.

“Membership in the Russian Chess Federation gives the best representatives of our sport the opportunity to participate in all-Russian competitions. This is an opportunity to apply for the support of the regional budget. We can also assign titles, categories, as well as ratings according to the methodology of the Russian Chess Federation, send coaches for training. And also to systematically replenish the material and technical base in settlements, ”said Alexei Fedichkin, head of the Chukotka Chess Federation.

The tournament among the teams of educational institutions “Belaya Ladya” was founded in 1969. Until 2004, it had the status of an all-Union tournament, after that it became an all-Russian one, and since 2014 it has become an international tournament. Held annually. The main goals are to popularize chess among schoolchildren, identify talented young chess players and improve their sports skills. The organizers of the competition are the Russian Chess Federation and the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation.